To heal a broken heart

Chapter 15

~Holly's POV~

My parents don't come home till after 8 pm, just like always. In the meantime I did my homework, cleaned the house a bit and in the end started to read to distract me from my dark thoughts. Since my encounter with Jayden today I seriously felt like shit for making him believe I'd think he's a monster.

My chest tightens at the thought, but just in that moment I hear the front door open and my parents coming home.

"Holly! Come down and make some dinner!", my mother's voice yells through the house. I sigh and obey her, going down and starting to make some lasagna for them. I already prepared everything in advance, since I didn't want to get scolded again, so I just have to put it in the oven now.

Half an hour later it's finished. My parents already got impatient, so I hurry to prepare them their plates. Grabbing everything, I scurry over to the living room only to see them sitting on the couch and sucking their faces off. Ugh!

"Here's your dinner", I mumble silently. "Enjoy!"

My dad looks up and scowls at me, making me step back a bit.

"That's a sorry excuse of a meal! Didn't you make some more?!", he grunts.

"There's more in the kitchen", I try to sooth him, but to no avail. He already shoved my mother off his lap, making her glare at me, and stalks over to me, raising his hand. I flinch and try to duck away, but it's to late.

His fist already collides with my upper arm.

"Next time prepare something better! As fat as you are, I'm sure you know how to cook! By the way, no food for you, am I making myself clear? You're already big enough!", he hisses in my ear, knocking me down with another punch to my stomach. I cough and feel blood coming up my throat. Not wanting to upset them even more, I force myself to swallow it again and curl up into a fat, little ball.

"Pathetic", my mom chimes in. "Why did we even raise her?"

"I don't know my love, she's nothing like you", my dad answers her with disgust in his voice. A silent sob escapes my lips and I instantly tense.

"What was that? Don't you dare start crying, you pathetic excuse of a daughter!", my mom hisses. Then I feel her foot connecting with my ribs.

Again.

And again.

And again.

My father starts to kick me as well. I never imagined them treating me like that, but here I am, sprawled out on the ground, trying to protect my head and upper body.

Only after what feels like forever do they retreat. I hear them cursing at me some more, but then the dizziness takes over and everything goes black.

I open my eyes to a kick to my stomach. I immediately start coughing, but my mom doesn't care.

"Get up, you whore! You have school today and don't you dare say anything!", she spits at me. In the background I can see my dad smirking at my position on the floor.

"Don't forget you're not allowed to eat!", he adds smugly. I just nod. What else can I do?

Getting up, I limp upstairs into my room and change into something clean. My other clothes have blood on the sleeves from my cuts being opened by the beating. I choose a simple blue skinny jeans and a creamy-white blouse with fluffy, long sleeves. Pairing it up with some nice boots and a golden necklace that matches the color of my old fashioned glasses, I look in the mirror and gasp.

Shit!

I have even more bruises than the day before! How am I supposed to cover all this up?! I look like a mess! Swiftly limping to the bathroom, I start on my makeup. It's heavier than usual due to the dark bruises being everywhere, but I think it's okay.